Tag: Tahini

A week before Christmas I almost cut off a large chunk of the tip of my thumb. I won’t get into the gory details, but here’s what I’ll say: don’t rush, and be careful when it comes to the combination of frozen produce and very sharp new knives. Ok? The next day, our refrigerator broke. It took two days to get someone to come look at it, and now we are waiting until January 8th for a part to come which will hopefully (please please please) fix it. In the meantime, we had two coolers outside plus a very mini fridge in our basement, plus a kind-of working refrigerator that our friend graciously gave to us. Did I mention that we were not only hosting Christmas dinner but also had my in-laws staying with us for the week?

Anyway, we got through all of this just fine. We got through it well, in fact. There were no stitches or trips to the emergency room, just lots of gauze and finger cots and trips up and down our basement stairs and re-freezing ice packs. And at the end of all of this (well, technically it’s not the end since our fridge is still busted and my finger is still bandaged up), an ice cream maker appeared on our doorstep. It was one of those times when you rack your brain to remember, “What the heck was my latest Amazon purchase?” But no, it was just my wonderful father-in-law. Maybe it was an additional Christmas present or a very nice host gift. My mother-in-law is one of my only family members who religiously reads this blog, so I’m sure she’ll show this to him, and hopefully, it will make him smile.

Of course, then I had my in-laws in mind when I was thinking of what recipe would be the first in my newest kitchen addition. I was researching and researching recipe ideas, feeling frustrated that I couldn’t quite find what I wanted, and then this one popped into mind. You see, my mother-in-law was the one who got me drinking rooibos tea. I had tried it before, but it wasn’t until my regular trips to Chicago, sitting around sharing a pot, using her cute little strainer, that I started really liking it. It’s now a staple in my tea collection and one that we drank a lot of while they were here. And because I can’t leave anything alone, I decided to add tahini, bringing a sweet nuttiness to the earthy flavor of the tea. You can make this without the tahini, and it would be good. But I recommend trying the combination – I think they suit each other.

It was a mashup. A mashup of colors: neon orange, sunset purple, creamy yellow. A mashup of recipes: lots of research, a few ideas, a smattering of ingredients already in the fridge. And a mashup of an event: bachelorette party meets Disney princess themed meets actual edible meal. My best friend’s bachelorette weekend was a whirlwind of events and cocktails (coming soon to the blog, don’t worry), celebrating this wonderful woman and her marriage to another one of my best friends. I’ll get all sappy about them in the next post though. I was tasked with throwing a Disney princess themed dinner party at my house – we dressed as Disney princesses, there was a photobooth, lots of Cinderella-blue (her favorite princess), pumpkins, and more. Above you can see the table and some of the princesses with Cinderella herself at the head of the table, plus the wonderful Moana using her oar to keep all the bees off our fish.

In my effort to create a feast that was edible and kind of went together, I fudged a little bit – Arial probably wouldn’t normally eat salmon, she’d be friends with the salmon. So this was my riff on Rapunzel’s carrots and hazelnuts (in the movie she eats parsnip and hazelnut soup) topped with Jasmine’s tahini sauce. It was my favorite dish at the dinner, and I was happy to find some of the tahini sauce leftover in my fridge a few days later. So I recreated it here – there may be less Disney flare, but there is just as much flavor.

It has been a delicious week. I cooked some awesome food, some of which I’ve shared, and some of which will be coming up shortly. Spring is upon us, and I’m starting to see it creep into the grocery stores and some of my favorite recipe resources. Something I’m particularly looking forward to? Trying some new savory rhubarb recipes, and the weather slowly getting warm enough to crank out some ice cream again. In this weekend finds, I’ll show you what I’m talking about.

1. Toasted Sesame Seed Ice Cream

I can’t wait to try this toasted sesame ice cream from Milk and Honey.

I feel like there were certainly a few recipes that I found this week that left me feeling like I wasn’t sure if it would be delicious or totally weird. This recipe from Milk and Honey may be one of them. The toasted sesame part sounds good, but then when I think about adding tahini, my brain and tastebuds get all confused. I guess I’ll just have to try it.

2. Rhubarb Baked Beans

Feeling uncertain about these rhubarb baked beans, but I’m going to give them a shot.

There are some great looking savory rhubarb recipes out there – specifically those that involve roasting meats or sauces. On the other hand, there are these rhubarb baked beans, which, I admit, sound weird. I have purchased the ingredients to make these curious (and, admittedly, unappetizing-looking) beans. I’ll let you know how it goes, I guess…

3. Thai Salad

This bright, delicious salad made for a scrumptious lunch.

Today, after going climbing (for the first time in… over a year), my roommates and I were STARVING. So we made some Thai laarb and this salad from The Roasted Root. Both were a big hit, and I will definitely be using this salad again in the future. It’s beautifully colorful and I love the varied flavors, and it’s filling but also still healthy.

4. Mango, Yogurt, and Cardamom Ice Cream

I love the mango-lassi like color of this ice cream.

Sorry, I got distracted for a moment by things that aren’t ice cream. Back in the sweet lane, this ice cream from Yotam Ottolenghi (genius, duh) had three things I really truly love: mango. greek yogurt. cardamom. Can’t wait to make this. I am thinking I need to have an ice cream party in order to make all the bizarre flavors I’m itching to make. Pretty sure my friends would be into that.

5. Eating Alone

Maybe dining solo will be a new trend?

So there’s now a restaurant, Eenmall, where there are only 1 person tables. That’s it. No Wi-Fi either. Great? I think so. Do you ever eat out by yourself? While I always have to take a deep breath before I do it (yeah, sometimes it’s a little scary to just be with yourself for an hour without a computer or phone or book in front of you), I always feel like my mind has cleared after the fact. So while only having a table-for-one option is a little different, I think eating alone is something we could all benefit from every once in a while.

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Serious Crust was inspired by a long summer I spent baking strawberry rhubarb pies - one of my favorite things to make. These days you can come here to read about what I'm cooking, baking, eating, drinking, and craving.